LHC orders govt to submit Toshakhana record from 1947 to 2001

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) Monday directed the government to submit complete record of Toshakhana gifts’ recipients from 1947 to 2001 in the last week of May.

Hearing an intra-court appeal by the government challenging the LHC single bench order to release the state gift depository’s record from 1990 to 2001, a division bench — comprising Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan and Justice Raza Qureshi — also warned the government that if complete record was not presented before the court, then all the officers concerned, including those who had retired, would have to appear before the court.

The court made these observations after Deputy Attorney General Nasar Ahmad submitted that the record of Toshakhana gifts from 1947 to 1990 was not available. The judge remarked as to how it was possible that no record of those who received costly gifts from Toshakhana was maintained.

The judge said all the gifts from foreign dignitaries were the state property and missing of such valuable record was painful. The judge further observed that such a statement of missing of entire record of the decades was simply incomprehensible.

The bench ordered the government to produce the record, and that it was completely firm on its orders. The bench observed that “legislations were made in haste for the elite but no law was passed for the public interests. What are we leaving behind for the coming generations? Our elders created the country but the generation which came after them did nothing for the generations which were to come after.”

Justice Shahid Bilal Hasan observed that the matter was not concerned with the government or the court only but the whole nation. The judge said all record of Toshakhana must be submitted before the court otherwise all officials concerned would have to appear in the court even if they had retired.

The state counsel argued that the government itself released the Toshakhana record from 2002 and onwards. However, the names of those who gave the gifts weren’t made public to avoid damaging foreign relations, the state counsel said, adding that the government had uploaded all details on the official website but wanted relief to the extent of revealing the names.

The additional attorney general maintained that the government wasn’t trying to hide the record but the record before 2002 was not computerised and verified. The government has challenged the Lahore High Court decision regarding the disclosure of sources of providers of gifts from 1990 till 2023 and making public the Toshakhana record from 1990 to 2001, requesting that the decision be set aside to this extent.

The government, through the Cabinet Division secretary, challenged the LHC single bench’s decision handed down by Justice Asim Hafeez on March 22.